I'm waiting for the first time I see a sign at a protest;
"Keep your Government hands off My Obamacare!" 


Many in Florida Count on Obama’s Health Law, Even Amid Talk of Its Demise
By ABBY GOODNOUGHNOV. 25, 2016

MIAMI — Dalia Carmeli, who drives a trolley in downtown Miami, voted for Donald J. Trump on Election Day. A week later, she stopped in to see the enrollment counselor who will help her sign up for another year of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

“I hope it still stays the same,” said Ms. Carmeli, 64, who has Crohn’s disease and relies on her insurance to cover frequent doctor’s appointments and an array of medications.

Mr. Trump and Republicans in Congress are vowing to repeal much or all of the health law, a target of their party’s contempt since the day it passed with only Democratic votes in 2010. If they succeed, they will set in motion an extraordinary dismantling of a major social program in the United States.

But for now, with open enrollment for 2017 underway, people are steadily signing up or renewing their coverage, and in conversations last week in South Florida, many refused to believe that a benefit they count on would actually be taken away.

Florida helped hand Mr. Trump the presidency when he narrowly won the state, but it has also provided more customers for the federal health insurance marketplace than any other state. This makes Florida a window to the complex and delicate task Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans face in deciding whether to scrap the entire law, which has brought coverage to more than 20 million people, and what to replace it with.

Even though Gov. Rick Scott fiercely opposes the law, more than 1.5 million Floridians were enrolled in marketplace plans as of March, the last time the Obama administration released data. And some of the problems that have plagued the marketplaces in other states have been less of an issue here: The premium increases and overall prices have been lower than average, and at least in urban areas, a number of insurers are still participating.

Jay Wolfson, a professor of public health and medicine at the University of South Florida, said that while many Floridians would be happy to see the law disappear, and the state’s Republican leaders have never shied away from attacking it, failing to come up with a substantive replacement could be politically risky.

“The question I think we all have is, how do they transition out of it?” he said. “How do they do it without dumping millions of people off the edge of a cliff?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/health/florida-affordable-care-act-obamacare-trump.html

Last edited by Goose (12/06/2016 6:56 am)

I agree that the ACA isn't going to go anywhere soon. I think even the most anti-ACA republican would agree that there would need to be a wind-down period and it would take several years.

What I would suggest is perhaps we put a fresh set of eyes on the ACA and make strides to improve the law. There is no doubt that rates have gone up, and while individuals may not notice it because their subsidized rates have remained flat, the overall cost of the program is going to raise, putting the burden on the taxpaying public. Additionally, small businesses are getting walloped by the increase in premiums. I can verify this personally.

 

Agree.  Even those of us who have employer-based health insurance see annual increases in monthly premiums, deductibles and copays.  I've not seen a figure for the 2017 increase in Medicare premiums but anticipate yet another increase in my monthly health insurance expenses on top of those already announced.